Kajira is the term for female slave or "slave-girl" in John Norman's Gor[wp] novels. Slaves in the Gorean[wipi] lifestyle will refer to themselves as kajirae. The phrase "la kajira" is said to mean "I am a slave-girl" in the main Gorean language (the most widely-spoken lingua franca[wp] in the known regions of the planet Gor); this is one of the few complete Gorean-language sentences given in the Gor novels.

The word is usually seen in the feminine form kajira (Latin-style plural kajirae), as most slaves in the Gorean lifestyle are female. The corresponding masculine forms are "kajirus" and "kajiri". (These words follow the rules of nominative adjective morphology in the Latin language, as seen also with words such as "alumnus"/"alumna", etc.) The construction "kajiras" is incorrect, but is occasionally seen in third-party writing.

Gor - Dictionary

Model posing as a "Kajira", or Gorean slave-girl. She is shown wearing a Gorean camisk garment (i.e. a belted narrow sideless poncho[wp] worn without underwear), and with a simulated kef brand on her thigh.

Kajira: Word for female slave in the Gorean language (the Latin-style plural is kajirae). A less commonly-used metaphorical synonym is Sa-Fora (which most literally means "daughter of the chain" in the Gorean language). Other synonyms used in certain contexts are "bondmaid", "property girl" etc. A woman who is enslaved loses all legal status (citizenship, caste membership, name etc.) and cannot own anything (but is herself owned). Under Gorean laws, a slave is the absolute property of her or his owner, and has no rights or protections; no obligations or duties are ever owed to a slave. A slave of either sex (kajira or kajirus) must render perfect obedience to an owner of either sex (master or mistress) or suffer the consequences - but many on Gor believe that the situation of a male master owning a female slave is most in accord with the basic natures of the two sexes. Only a minority of women on Gor are enslaved, but there is a fairly common opinion that the female slave is the paradigmatic or ideal woman (kajirae "are closest, perhaps, to the essentials of the female, those of subservience to the masculine will, obedience, service and pleasure"). The institution of female slavery exists in the vast majority of Gorean societies, with a small number of exceptions (in the city of Tharna before the revolution described in Gor book 2 Outlaw, among the "rencers" of the Vosk river delta before the introduction of the great bow, and among the tribe of Alars), and is partially standardized across Gor by the conventions of Merchant Law. In a very few Gorean societies, almost all women are kept as slaves (the city of Tharna after the revolution, and certain rencer village-islands mentioned in book 24 Vagabonds). Only a minority of kajirae were born into slavery (and only a minority of these born kajirae are "exotics", bred to possess special characteristics). The great majority of kajirae on Gor were born free, and were subsequently enslaved in one of several common ways - such as when their city or community was conquered in war; or because they were legally sentenced to slavery for committing a major crime, falling into significant debt, or persistently/conspicuously displaying behaviors unsuitable to the status of a free woman; or because they were abducted in various circumstances. Less common ways of being enslaved can include: having sex with a kajirus whom she does not own (in the city of Ar; see Couching Law[wipi]); being sold or given away by her father, in accordance with his paterfamilias legal powers over his minor children (in some cities); being seized as a minor to satisfy her father's debts, or the debts of her late father's estate; because her male champion(s) have been defeated in the "Love Wars" of the Plains of Turia (or in similar competitive games or duels between different cities or communities); because her life was saved (see Gentleman[wipi]); or when a woman voluntarily chooses to become a slave - whether so that her family will benefit from her initial sale price, or because she prefers the life of a slave to the particular somewhat fixed free woman's social role that she was born into, or occasionally in order to escape the gruesome and fatal punishments sometimes imposed on free persons who have committed serious crimes (since a slave is not liable to criminal punishment as such, though the slave's owner has unlimited power over her or him, theoretically including the power of life and death). Note that kajira status is not confined to women of any particular cultural, ethnic, linguistic, caste etc. origins, but affects all such groups more or less evenly. (In a few isolated and remote regions of Gor, all women from outside the region found there are considered to be ipso facto automatically kajirae or captives, since no other legitimate reason for their presence is recognized; however, even in such areas the local women are not exempt from also being enslaved.) Free women can be very conscious of kajirae, and sometimes envy them for being uninhibited by the restrictive customs which frequently govern the behavior of free women (especially high-caste women in the city-states), but they often seek to distinguish and differentiate themselves from kajirae as far as possible.